Celebrating a decade of the True Self/Debwewendizwin program

There have been plenty of successes with Nipissing First Nation’s True Self/Debwewendizwin Employment and Training program over the past decade.

One includes expanding services to include men.

They’re celebrating their 10th anniversary of providing peer support services rooted in First Nation Culture to help people overcome trauma and prepare for training, education or employment.

Program Manager Donna Forget says when looking at the stats they’ve had plenty of successes, but there are others ways to measure success.

“The 180 or 90 participants that we’ve had go through the program that haven’t used substances for two years or more, the 87 women that got their children back. To us, those are the true successes,” she says.

Meantime, there’s a bit of an unknown at this point, with how they’ll be funded in the future.
Forget says a restructuring at the provincial level means funding, as it flows now, will stop next March.

“I am sure that we are going to get funding, I don’t know where from and it might mean a shift or a change a little bit to the program. But, we’re ok with change, we like to meet the needs of the community,” she says.

Local officials and dignitaries gathered outside North Bay City Hall this morning (Tuesday) to celebrate the program’s 10th anniversary.